


The Best

by kisslicknipsuck



Series: Snarry Drabbles [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Drabble, Gen, M/M, preslash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-19
Updated: 2013-08-19
Packaged: 2017-12-25 10:25:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/951979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kisslicknipsuck/pseuds/kisslicknipsuck
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry will only learn from the best.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Best

**Author's Note:**

> written for the prompt "Snape the Duelist" for LJ's snape100  
> 6x100 words

"You're never going to become an Auror at this rate, Potter," Snape said, sneering at Potter when he'd been unable to dodge his last spell. 

From the ground, Potter shot Snape a vicious glare. He must be reaching his limit after the intense dueling practice they'd been at for the past hour. The younger man was badly battered and bruised, but still he continued, much to Snape's simultaneous delight and annoyance. On the one hand, he got the pleasure of hexing him more. On the other, he had to further tolerate his company. 

"Again," Potter said, clambering to his feet. 

\--

Snape rolled his eyes at Potter's stubbornness, but obliged him, raising his wand to attack. He silently approved of the way the other man's eyes flicked warily between his wand and body as he set about reading the implication behind his movements. Despite his generally poor performance thus far, Potter _was_ improving—slowly. 

Potter avoided his first spell by rolling to the side, but Severus was better at analyzing his enemies' movements and deducing their habits. He had another curse soaring towards Potter before the man even regained his feet. 

It hit him square in the chest, knocking him flat. 

\--

He summoned Potter's dropped wand, catching it easily and twirling it tauntingly in his fingers. 

"Have you ever considered giving up this pathetic delusion of becoming an Auror and going into something more suited to your underwhelming skillset, Mr. Potter? Like Herbology, perhaps? I suspect even _you_ can't be completely useless at tending plants, and you'd be in luck. Professor Sprout is looking for someone to mix and spread the fertilizer for her venomous tentacula. She's grown too laggard to continue doing it herself," Severus mocked as his eyes raked over Potter's defeated sprawl with satisfaction. 

Potter failed to react. 

\--

Snape approached Potter's form cautiously despite the fact that there was little the man could do to him without his wand. As he got closer, he could see how shallow his breathing was and he moved faster.

He knelt at Potter's side and gingerly lifted his should to push him onto his back. As he rolled bonelessly over, Snape caught sight of the blood pouring out his mouth. 

_Brilliant_ , he thought with a scowl. Not only was he going to get it from Potter's admirers and other Auror instructors, he would have to deal with the Healers too. _Just brilliant_. 

\--

"You should never have allowed things to go so far," Singleton, the man in charge of the Defense and Dueling offshoot of the Auror Program and Severus's superior, said. 

He sniffed disdainfully at the rotund pug of a man. "If Potter was having difficulties, he did not voice them to me. And it is neither my responsibility nor my prerogative to determine his, or any other student's, physical limitations." 

"It is entirely your responsibility!" the man snapped. "And if you cannot manage it, you will not be allowed to continue teaching in this program. Is that clear?"

Snape nodded reluctantly. 

\--

"Potter, what precisely do you think you are doing?" he seethed at the man, giving him a hostile glower. The stubborn imbecile had been reassigned to another dueling instructor after Snape had accidentally almost killed him. He should've been free of the brat. 

And yet here he stood in Snape's training chamber, already slipping into his—by now—instinctive dueling stance. 

Potter blinked at him. "Learning to duel," he said simply. 

"Not with me, you're not."

The other man smiled and shook his head. "I want to learn from the best."

Snape narrowed his eyes, deliberating, before nodding with approval.


End file.
